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Christian Counseling Connection
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INNOVATIVE THOUGHT & PRACTICE
Rhona Epstein, Psy.D., CAC
Unhealthy relationships with food, such as binge eating, bulimia, and food addiction,
are on the rise. What are we looking at? What are the root causes? Emotional eating,
bad habits, laziness, gluttony, addiction, disease?
Identifying the Problem
Eating disorders are as complex as they are devastating to our clients. Binge eating
and bulimia can destroy people physically, emotionally, relationally, and spiritually.
They feel defeated as they lose battle after battle—unable to control their eating and
weight. Most do not know what is wrong with them and feel like there is a “monster”
inside driving them to self-destruction. The people around them may wonder why
they don’t just go on a healthy diet and exercise moderately… and the individual
who is struggling often wonders the same. No one chooses insanity, loss of control,
and obsession. So why not just stop? How can we help?
Finding Modalities thatWork
Like many illnesses we deal with, sometimes we must try different treatment options
to find what works. In most cases, we discover this through trial and error. Tradition-
al eating disorder treatment models, such as behavior therapy, cognitive-behavioral
therapy, family systems, trauma-based therapy, dialectical behavior therapy, and
others are often successful. However, there is an expanding segment of our client
population that is not responding successfully to traditional modalities. Why?